CURE

A few weeks ago I was invited to be a guest reader at the CURE annual meeting. Several local writers had been wrangled to mingle and read poetry, reports, essays, and (thanks to me) middle grade fiction -- all with connections to Minnesota and the land. As a former board member of the grassroots environmental group, I was especially pleased to join in the fun of the day.

And I was certain that pretty yellow kayak in the raffle was MINE.

Patrick Moore, one of CURE's founders and most ardent supporters, has spearheaded the renovation of a "Writer's Retreat" above the current CURE office on Main Street here in Montevideo. It was my first visit to the cozy space. Well done, Patrick.

I greatly enjoyed chatting with the other authors, as well as the many CURE members and volunteers who decided to join us, open house style. My favorite part was listening to Athena Kildegaard read from her book of poetry, Cloves & Honey: Love Poems. It is in my amazon cart now, along with the DVD of Bright Star (a John Keats biopic I've rented too many times not to purchase) and This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection by Carol Burnett (our April book club choice).
       
Before the Writer's Retreat open house was over, a familiar face appeared. Cody Maynus, a reader for the SPOTD series, was in town for the festivities. Here we are, happy as clams. Cody was probably thinking, "How nice to see my high school English teacher and talk about my crazy St. John's literary theory prof!" while I was thinking, "That pretty yellow kayak in the raffle is MINE."

We palled around a bit at the evening banquet, as much as I could between frequent visits to see how much my donation of Super Power of the Day: Origins of a Sixth Grade Superhero was fetching in the silent auction ($18!!!). The meal of locally grown food was wonderful, the speakers -- especially Hudson Bay women Ann Raiho and Natalie Warren --  were brilliant, and a jolly time was had by all.

Alas, my name was not drawn in the raffle.

I was so sure.

More book club visits...

Who knew that women (mostly) of a certain age (mostly) would be so taken with my little middle grade story?

I've been the special guest at four area book clubs in the past few months. The readers have been delightful, sharing their favorite parts (short chapters, the talking to animals super power, the realism of how school works, the silly substitute teachers) and their least favorite parts (the long finger mess on Super Stretch day, the prehensile hair superpower). They've asked great questions. They've tried to guess local students on whom the characters may have been partly based. They've read to me their favorite lines. They've shared which superpowers they'd want to have. They've helped me decide on the color of the volume 3 cover (black!!!!!). One reader (Robin S, love you) even had the gall to complain that I made the robin on Super Sight day fat!

More than anything, they've been curious and fascinated by my writing and publishing journey.

Said journey is having an important anniversary, by the way. It was exactly a year ago that I traveled to Minneapolis with my manuscript in tow and returned to do the soul searching that yielded Snow Moon Publishing and the SPOTD trilogy. I remember as clear as day sitting in my mother's guest bedroom and resolving, "I can do this. I am going to make it happen."

It's probably time for some new goals. First out of the gate, I need to finish making final edits to volumes 2 and 3 and get them out the door. Each time I set a deadline for myself, my day job and its resulting end-of-the-day exhaustion take over and I let the deadline slide. Perhaps the longer days of March will stir something in my veins to combat that. We'll see.

In any case, the cover for volume 2 is all but complete and looking fantastic. I'll post it soon!

It was Superhero day!

As one of the dress up days for snow week (yes, we have snow week even when there is no snow...) the students and staff at my day job dressed up as superheroes. I decided to go as Chase Cooper, from the cover of volume 2.

Here we are. 

Chase does a much nicer job of flying than I do. Thanks, Kim and friends, for the great cape!